Art = Life? Rauschenberg’s Radical Work

When car tires, light bulbs, pillows, or taxidermied animals become part of a painting: With his Combines, Robert Rauschenberg (1925–2008) blurred the boundary between painting and sculpture while simultaneously uniting Abstract Expressionism with Pop Art. They embody the idea of opening up self-contained, aesthetic, and sublime art to the material, chaotic realities of life: art is no longer merely representation, but part of the real world. It consists of what surrounds people in their daily lives. At the heart of the exhibition at the Kunsthalle Krems is the interplay between photography and gestural painting. Since the 1950s, the artist has incorporated photos from newspapers and magazines into abstract paintings. At the same time, he created his experimental Transfer Drawings, produced by rubbing dampened newspaper images. Robert Rauschenberg. Image and Gesture, the artist’s first solo exhibition in Austria, runs through November 1.

Rauschenberg, who won various awards, including the Gold Medal at the Venice Biennale in 1964, is considered one of the most influential artists of the 20th century and a pioneer of Pop Art and Conceptual Art. In 1966, he also launched the Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.) project, which brought together artists and scientists to collaborate across disciplines. In the 1990s, he turned to digital image processes, exploring new possibilities for collage-like works. The very first retrospective of Rauschenberg’s work was organized in 1963 by the Jewish Museum in New York City.